perhaps da liebs

can backfill (with the cost coming out of his OWN pockets) connecticut with:
more than two-hundred high-mobility multipurpose vehicles, a Chinook CH-47D cargo helicopter, fifteen-hundred pairs of night-vision goggles and twenty-one large support vehicles such as tankers, wreckers and heavy cargo vehicles.

cause that's what we're missing (due to king george, his court and da liebs insistance to send our men and women into harm's way in an illegal, unjust and immoral war)

Governors worry about depleted National Guard with equipment left in Iraq and Afghanistan

(Hartford-AP)_Some governors are questioning whether they will be able to handle the next hurricane, wildfire or terrorist attack at home. That's because repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are leaving state National Guards without nearly half of their required equipment. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius complained this week that shortages of equipment and well-trained personnel slowed Guard response to the killer tornadoes that ravaged her state. .............

..............The Pentagon acknowledged this week that Army National Guard units had only 56 percent of their required equipment, the lowest levels since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ...............

the last of the 102nd are home

and i welcome you and i thank you (we all do)

National Guard members return to Connecticut

(Windsor Locks-WTNH)_It was a third and final homecoming today for the New Haven based 102nd Infantry Battalion. Fifty unit members arrived at Bradley International Airport this afternoon to the loving arms of wives, husbands, children and parents.
After a year in Afghanistan and almost a year and a half away from home, the members of the 102nd were recognized while they were in Afghanistan for holding off Taliban forces, so that Afghan security forces could arrive. During their stay, they participated in search and seizure operations, working with the Afghan security forces and the Afghan National Army. They spent the past month taking warrior leader courses at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, but today it was all about just being with family.
Jessica Koeler of Meriden said her husband has been away since January of last year. .............

mother's day for peace

blossoms in the morning

chris and matt

a couple of weeks ago - in front of the half door

the start of my

chevron scarf from last minute knitted gifts

tweedy cotton classic #476 (the pinkish purplish yarn)

cotton classic color #109 (the blue/green/purple)

both by tahki-stacy charles

(from sit-n-knit in west hartford center)

bear!

takin' a stroll in hamden

i'm not one to go to concerts (any more)

i don't like large venues (although i DID enjoy the allman brothers at whatever it's called now. before it was called what it is now mind you, the dodge theater or ford or yugo)

i DID see many a fine act at toad's though and i sure do hope to see many in the future (anyone remember the sting in new britain? i enjoyed the hell out of THAT place too. while we're at it, and i'm dating myself. how about the shaboo??? damn some GOOD GOOD GOOD times)

Famous night club ordered closed for three months

NEW HAVEN, Conn. --There will be no beers poured, no dancing, no screaming guitars, no gigs at Toad's Place for the next three months.
The famous nightclub, where stars from Count Basie to the Rolling Stones and Johnny Cash to U2 have all performed, shut its doors Friday for three months by order of the state Liquor Control Division.
Liquor control agents and police officers raided Toad's Place in November 2005 as the club was holding a "College Night."
The club was charged with selling of alcohol to minors and negotiated a settlement with the state. It agreed to close its doors for 90 days and pay a $90,000 fine. None of the underage drinkers was arrested.
"What's done is done," Toads General Manager Ed Dingus of Hamden told the New Haven Register. "We've got to play by the rules."..............

please say a few kind words or a prayer or two for the 405th

combat support hospital. they're out of my hood, west hartford, but are from all over the northeast. let's all keep a good thought out for them

Medical unit deploys to Iraq

by News Channel 8's Jamie Muro

(West Hartford-WTNH) _ It was a special send-off Sunday in West Hartford for 95-men and women of the 405th Combat Support Hospital.
The unit is stationed in West Hartford, but these medical professionals bound for Iraq came from all over the northeast. Some family members and friends traveled great lengths to see off their loved ones from the United States Armed Forces Reserve Center.
Doctors, nurses and dentists make up this group of people who are often unseen in the media spotlight of this war, but some say their contribution is immeasurable. .........

Back To The Desert For New Face Of War Reservists Making Second Trip Over

By JESSE HAMILTON, Courant Staff Writer

For the first time in the Iraq war, one of Connecticut's units of Army reservists is returning for a second lengthy deployment to the Middle East. It's just the first of what will likely be a series of local units sent back to the war, military officials say. The 405th Combat Support Hospital, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based in West Hartford, had already served in Kuwait in the buildup to the Iraq War, and about a hundred of its members will return soon to a very different situation....
..............The 405th had deployed to Kuwait in 2002, as U.S. forces were readying for a possible military confrontation with Iraq. They staffed a combat hospital for several months, but it had few trauma patients. An October 2002 attack on some Marines in Kuwait provided their main experience with combat wounds and with a dead American. But the 405th came home before the real shooting war began in March 2003............

the west end

i spend a lot of time in the west end. it's a great area. diverse, lovely, wonderful restaurants, bodegas, shops (try De Vars-Phillips Florist out. they have great gifts too, not just flowers) all sorts of people from college kids to elderly (there is an elderly housing complex on sisson by the fire house). oxford street is full of big beautiful homes (as are a lot of other streets in that hood. many historic buildings not just the mark twain home and harriet beecher stowe's house). of course my beloved half door is in the hood too. that doesn't hurt

CHRISTIAN AND KATE WINKLEY play with their daughter, Anna, outside their home on Oxford Street in Hartford, their first of several renovation projects on the block in the West End. They live on the first floor of the house above and rent out the other two floors. (ROSS TAYLOR)

Young City Homeowners Make Modern History
By NANCY SCHOEFFLER, At Home Editor
The house had asbestos siding, and all the architectural details were covered up. The porch was rotted, and the ceiling was caving in.But, says Kate Winkley, "the bones were there Christian and Kate Winkley transformed their three-family home on Oxford Street in Hartford's West End, and then they started to transform the neighborhood: They now own three other houses on the block and another just around the corner, all renovated or in the works."Multifamily houses are so often neglected; often they're non-owner-occupied," says Christian Winkley, noting that all but one of the houses on the block are multifamily dwellings. "This was a perfect block to bring back," Winkley says. "It just needed a little TLC," adds his wife.................